Kenya Camping

Alex and Evan have the week off for spring break, so we took advantage of the time to get some camping in our last few months of living in Kenya.  We had a night along Lake Naivasha, and two nights at the Maasai Mara.

[Additional pictures of this trip are here on another page]

A Christmas gift was a Saturday climbing trip with Blue Sky, at Hell's Gate National Park near Lake Naivasha.  It looked unclimbable to the parents, but the boys scrambled up the cliffs nicely.  Evan is in the middle, Alex on the right. 

Evan using a rock crack to get up the cliff.

Lovebirds at our campsite on Lake Naivasha

On to the Mara, which is the northern end of the Serengeti ecosystem.  The rains had started so everything was incredibly green and lush.  Throughout the grasslands were herds of elephants like these. 

Our campsite was along the edge of the famous Mara River, with its huge Nile Crocodiles.  Hippos grunted in the water nearby.  So...we kept a healthy distance from the river!

Morning at game parks means getting up before sunrise to see early animals.  Here stopping for breakfast (yes, fruit loops-a treat while camping) with the buffalo.

Elephants crossing the Mara

As always, there were lots of amazing birds, like this European Roller.

Our best bird sighting was a Southern Ground Hornbill.  Fun to watch it hunting frogs in the grass.

Camping in the African wilderness.  Two guards are required for all campers during the night, which gave us some comfort as we heard noisy hippos wandering around the area outside our tents.

Our best mammal sighting was this Aardwolf.  There were two of them, peeking out from behind a termite mound.  They're shy and often not seem during the day, so it was exciting to see an animal few others get a chance to see.

On the Mara River with a "bloat" of hippos on the far shore.

The Mara is famous for its cats, and we saw lots of nice lions.